According to the prior art, the blade is fastened in an elongated slot within a mounting bar through the use of wedges, shims, set screws and the like. It is also common practice to carry accessories such as static bars and the like upon the blades. The blade mounting bar is carried within a stand or frame member and is often spring biased to urge the blade into tangential engagement with the rotatable roll through the use of coil tension springs positioned adjacent each end thereof. Problems are occasioned through the use of such apparatus in that considerable time, often on the order of one-half hour per shift, is required to remove the blade and attached accessories for cleaning of the blade. Moreover, the blade has a substantial unsupported length such as to be less conducive than is possible herein to the production of a uniform fibrous web. The parts are expensive since considerable milling is necessary in order to provide parts which fit according to necessary tolerances.
Accordingly, it is an important object of this invention to provide a blade holding apparatus which will permit rapid removal of the blades for cleaning and which will carry the blade independently of accessories such as the static bar.
A further object of the invention is to provide a support which positions the blade by the mere act of insertion of the blade, with an edge portion and an intermediate portion of the blade supported such that a substantial free portion of the blade is held in cantilevered relationship causing substantially uniform force to be exerted across the blade at the point of tangency to produce an improved web.
This is an improvement relating to devices such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,283,366.